Timeline for Is it correct to say "pens run on ink and pencils run on lead"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 14 at 3:03 | history | bumped | CommunityBot | This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed. | |
| Sep 14 at 0:11 | answer | added | swmcdonnell | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 13 at 12:16 | comment | added | TimR | @Tom It was just a quick-and-dirty example of figurative word-play to show you how "run on" can work. You could stretch the figure and say things like "Italy runs on espresso" or "France runs on cheese" or "Political extremism runs on fear and ignorance". The figure of speech treats the subject as needing energy to propel it. But pens and pencils are lifeless tools and do not in any sense have a life of their own. They don't consume something to produce energy. They are wielded. Only in a Pixar film could "Pens run on ink" have any chance of passing muster -- if spoken by a pen. | |
| Sep 13 at 11:46 | comment | added | Tom | @TimR, "Dogs run on Alpo"??? I thought "Dogs live on Alpo" | |
| Sep 13 at 10:34 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | What @TimR said. Metaphoric "capitalism runs on profit" and "science runs on trust" are fine, but pens and pencils don't really work in that context. | |
| Sep 13 at 10:30 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | Ink and lead are not fuels, they do not provide energy to a thing. A pen has ink, while a pencil has graphite but we still call it a lead pencil. A water-heater can run on gas or electricity. It needs the energy to turn cold water into hot. | |
| Sep 13 at 10:08 | comment | added | TimR | No, not unless you're trying to be clever instead of being idiomatic. "run on" refers literally or figuratively to fuel. "Cars run on gas. Dogs run on Alpo." ( fictitious dog food commercial). | |
| Sep 13 at 10:06 | history | asked | Tom | CC BY-SA 4.0 |